"D" the Ranter is Colorado's #1 Multi-sport MLBlogger. The Rant is written from a fan's perspective and you can count on "D" to tell you exactly how it is. Tried and Tested…There's a reason the Rant kicks ass in Colorado.

Believe me nothings free

1/1/09Hope everyone had an awesome New Years Eve, I went to bed early but we let the kids stay up as late as they wanted. Neither of them made it midnight.I woke up and stretched really good this morning, ate a banana and a yogurt for breakfast.

You have to start somewhere, and this is as good a starting point as any. I’m 6’1 195 and I plan to use my excess energy from not smoking to drop 10 lbs before spring training.

I’m still in decent shape at 195, but I have this sexy image I have to uphold and I don’t want to let anyone down. My entire family has the pot belly gene and there are things down there want to always be able to see.

Besides, 185 is a good baseball snaggin weight.

I couldn’t have been more ecstatic about watching the startup of the MLB Network. As luck would have it, Comcast made sure that didn’t happen.

I guess I figured the MLB channel would be free with what we pay Comcast for cable each month. Well 4:00 pm rolled around and I was faced with the realization that it wasn’t.

So I jumped on the phone to Comcast and was informed that I would have to purchase the Encore package which was $5.00 more a month. No problem, she said is should come on shortly and I hung up. Iwaited, and waited and nothing happened.

Now it’s close to 5:00 pm and I’m getting pissed, so I call Comcast back and I’m told by another customer service rep that it’s not the Encore package that I need upgrade to it’s a different sports package.

So another 45 minutes drifts by while I’m waiting on the phone to get this all set up. Eventually the dude and I part ways with me in front of my TV waiting for the MLB channel to pop on.

The MLB Network finally did come on about 6:30pm. In the end I had to upgrade my cable plan, but it only costs me $3.00 more a month. I missed the first 2.5 hours, that blows.

The Bob Costas interview with Don Larson and Yogi Berra was really cool. Especially after getting to see part of the classic Yankees/Dodgers World Series no-hitter.

I let/made my kids watch some of it. I told them someday in the future people would be watching video of the games that we attended in color and wondering why they’re not three dimensional.

I don’t watch a hell of a lot of TV unless it’s baseball, basketball, or football. Even then it’s only Colorado teams.

But it’s nice to know the MLB Network is there when “I” need it, kind of like a spare tire or that Powerbar I keep in my glove box.

Here are some of my Suggestions for the MLB Network.

1. During the Hot Stove segments, take 30 seconds and highlight a different MLBlogger. Increased traffic to our blogs from the exposure is essentially more hits to MLB’s website right? It’s a win/win situation. Or how about using random blogs for the background of Hot Stove?

2. Have random contests here on MLBlogs.com with prizes such as being in a MLB Network TV commercial or 5 second shout out for the winners home team. This group of bloggers loves competition. I’d love to win a contest and get 5 seconds on MLB TV, get to stand there in full Ranter uniform and scream “Rockies are number one baby” whether they are or not. That’s the standard line right?

3. I like the spring training thing they’re doing, 30 teams in 30 days. It’s a great idea, sounds familiar? I’m sure there will be MLBloggers all over the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues in Feb/March. The MLB Network could give us some love down there.

I’ve got lots of great ideas, but it’s only the first day and I don’t want to seem like I’m being overly critical or demanding :)

I liked what I saw, congratulations on the first day of what I hope will become the best channel on TV…D

Hey D,
Haven’t been too excited about the MLB channel but might if they do some interesting stuff. Would have loved to see Yogi Berra.
So, I took my son to see the Bodies Human Exhibit at Colorado Mills (we saw the Body Works Exhibit when it was at the museum). Still not sure if this is cool science or some whack job that needs a padded room. Some of the stuff he does is out and out freaky.
(I think you look fine the way you are now but I guess we all have that bent inner mirror)

JULIA-Thanks, your the only one who likes the contest idea I guess. Maybe I was a bit premature in my suggestions. Oh well, it’s not like I haven’t done that before :)
R-LUV, we took our kids to kids to the Bodies Human Exhibit also, they really liked it. Me, I kind of agree with you. But if it works and they dig it, who are we to argue? I hope they don’t do something like that with sex education, scary…D

I like that idea of a contest………………. I know a lot of the bigwigs at MLB might consider the blogger second class citizens at times, but we can get a huge amount of grass root support for the when they need it.

All of those idea have great merit, maybe someone from MLB or MLB Advanced Media will bring it up in a bainstorming session in the next few months……….

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